I'm back in Budapest after a long day of traveling yesterday. It was so sad to leave Beius/Oradea and as we pulled out of the town in our van, I had several tears streaming down my face. When I come to Beius in the summer, I feel like I am visiting my family. It's hard to put into words the connection I have with Habitat Beius - you'll just have to come next summer and experience it yourself! It's an emotional day leaving but I know I will be back next summer. I have to beat Emil in bowling next summer!!

Last night we had our final farewell celebration with the team and it was amazing! We had a private 2.5 hour boat cruise and dinner with live gypsy music. I greeted the team in the lobby with a glass of champagne to celebrate the end of another successful build. After feasting on another incredible dinner, we sat on the deck of the boat and enjoyed the beautiful sites of the city at night.

As we were all sitting on the deck and enjoying the beautiful sites, I became lost in my own thoughts. It truly is amazing how close you can come to complete strangers after building a house with them for a week. I enjoyed the long one-on-one conversations and the chance to learn about each person's family. In a world filled with such negativity all the time from school shootings to missiles shooting down planes to everyday violence, it is nice to see the good in society. I spent a week with some everyday heroes - people who are trying to make this world a better place one shovel of concrete and one brick at a time. I feel blessed to be a part of this experience. Many folks ask me why I do Habitat every summer and my answer continues to be - Habitat is my refresher course on life - it jump starts me and reminds me about all the good in this world that is happening all around us every single day.

So last night as I said goodbye to the team on the boat, I know that I will see them someday in the future.

As for today, I am enjoying a nice relaxing day in the castle district.

I'm off to explore! Here's another picture of our adventures from last night: